PhD Studentship: Direct Recycling of Li-ion Batteries: Separating for Success and Sustainability

Do you want to work on the cutting edge of Li-ion Battery recycling research? Are you interested in recycling and sustainability? Would you like to work as part of a multidisciplinary team working towards a sustainable future? Maybe a PhD in the Energy Materials Group at the University of Birmingham is for you!

Current Li-ion battery recycling processes commonly use a shredding and sorting process to extract an intermediate product called “Black mass” which is a mixture of cathodic active material (such as Nickelates, Iron Phosphates), anodic active material (such as Graphite ± SiOx) and some contaminants (Al, Cu, Plastics). This black mass is then separated into Ni, Co, Mn salts using hydrometallurgy, for re-use in synthesis of active material in new batteries.

This PhD project will investigate the use of physical and chemical processing techniques (such as density and magnetic separation processes, selective leaching) to isolate high purity active materials from li-ion batteries, and material characterisation techniques such as SEM, XRD, XRF, ICP-OES and Raman to understand the material properties before and after separation. This will target two goals: reducing impurities from black mass to make hydrometallurgical processing more sustainable and cost-effective, and extracting a stream of materials of sufficient purity for reconditioning and re-use (direct recycling), without separation into individual elements.

This PhD studentship is under the supervision of Dr Rob Sommerville, and based in the Energy Materials Group within the School of Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Birmingham. The group currently comprises ~40 people investigating all aspects of Li-ion, Na-ion, and other energy storage devices. The state-of-the-art battery research facilities support research in how to safely dissect, characterise and test batteries, then shred, separate and resynthesise new battery materials, and use these materials in to remanufacture new cells.

Please note this project is open to UK applicants only. Candidates must have at least a 2(1) in an Engineering or Scientific discipline or a 2(2) plus MSc or equivalent. The successful applicant will receive a tax-free stipend of £19,237 per year, tuition fees are covered. To apply, please first send a CV and cover letter summarising your research interests and suitability for the position to R.Sommerville@bham.ac.uk and feel free to get in touch with any queries in advance.

Working at UoB:

As a researcher at Birmingham, you will benefit from working in an environment in which excellence and innovation are made possible by brilliant people, outstanding facilities and strong collaborative networks. You will be joining a global top 100 university tackling some of the biggest issues the world faces, making a difference to people's lives on a daily basis. Within this nurturing academic community, you will be able to contribute to shaping and changing lives. The University Graduate School supports Birmingham’s postgraduate researcher (PGR) and postgraduate taught (PGT) community. We foster an interdisciplinary community and act as a gateway to support and advice to ensure that our postgraduates have access to a high quality postgraduate experience.

Funding notes:

Please note this project is open to UK applicants only. Candidates must have at least a 2(1) in an Engineering or Scientific discipline or a 2(2) plus MSc or equivalent. The successful applicant will receive a tax-free stipend of £19,237 per year, tuition fees are covered.

The project will be supervised by Dr Rob Sommerville (R.Sommerville@bham.ac.uk) and Professor Emma Kendrick.

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